hazybabe
Member
I'm new here. I'm 27 (it won't let me change my birthday) I'll be 28 in August. I grew up in Scotland but lived in Sweden from the age of 16, the last 4 years I've been bouncing between the two countries studying a Ba. Hons in Business Management. I have been treated for "depression" since the age of 13 and wasn't diagnosed with aspergers until I was 26. I was given a referral for testing by the psychologist I was seeing. The psychologist was helping me deal with a short but very damaging abusive relationship I had just escaped.
The possibility I was living with aspergers never struck me, it was my mum and sister who suggested it (they are both trained social workers and I presume they saw similarities between me and the young people they worked with). I just thought I was different and had depression was the reason for my meltdowns, loneliness and inability to create and maintain a healthy sociallife. My entire life I have been made painfully aware I say the wrong thing, that I talk and talk about things which bore people (my specialist subjects) and that the way I understand and process things can be vastly different to others. My biggest melt downs have come from people breaking promises.
My specialist subject is by far dogs, pedigree dogs and breeding in a responsible way. I can't have children either so my dogs are also my babies. I breed beagles.
I have other interests like hunting, sustainable living and threatened farm animal breeds (I have chickens and ducka) both threatened Swedish breeds.
That's probably way more than was necessary for an introduction but anyway. Nice to meet you all and have a great day [emoji2]
Hazybabe
The possibility I was living with aspergers never struck me, it was my mum and sister who suggested it (they are both trained social workers and I presume they saw similarities between me and the young people they worked with). I just thought I was different and had depression was the reason for my meltdowns, loneliness and inability to create and maintain a healthy sociallife. My entire life I have been made painfully aware I say the wrong thing, that I talk and talk about things which bore people (my specialist subjects) and that the way I understand and process things can be vastly different to others. My biggest melt downs have come from people breaking promises.
My specialist subject is by far dogs, pedigree dogs and breeding in a responsible way. I can't have children either so my dogs are also my babies. I breed beagles.
I have other interests like hunting, sustainable living and threatened farm animal breeds (I have chickens and ducka) both threatened Swedish breeds.
That's probably way more than was necessary for an introduction but anyway. Nice to meet you all and have a great day [emoji2]
Hazybabe
I have quite a similar back story to myself although friends and family who suspected I have Asperger's including an old friend who is a classroom assistant who comes across a lot of Asperger's kids in her work, didn't think to mention it to me until I mentioned it to them. Perhaps they thought they must be mistaken or that they would offend me. I am 34 and awaiting diagnosis (just been referred into the assessment/diagnosis 'system' on Monday). From the age of 12 or 13 onwards I suffered severe depression, anxiety and school/social phobia. I suffered really horrible bullying at school including being threatened with being set on fire (with an improvised blowtorch made with a body spray can), held out of a third floor window, shoved downstairs and beaten up on a regular basis on my way home from school by two boys. Teachers and my head of year knew all of this and said it was my fault for being too different and supposedly deliberately winding people up. In the end it all got too much that I had two breakdowns within a year, ended up in a semi-catatonic state, GP agreed to refer me to a day psychiatric unit. The two psychiatrists making the assessment almost refused me as they said my symptoms and self-awareness did not tally with each other and accused me of faking at one point, but in the end they agreed I could come there on a trial basis. Then when a medication they tried seemed to help dramatically they quickly discharged me back to my GP. Being vegan my interests differ quite a bit from yours but mine are the Danish language, culture and history; genealogy (I have done trees for myself and others and got over stumbling blocks that pros haven't been able to), and photography. X
Beagles are on the more attractive end of the dog spectrum, I'll grant you! Those flippy floppy ears! 
